Strike threat over Mada merger

OUR CORRESPONDENT

More than 1,800 employees of Mineral Area Development Authority (Mada) on Sunday threatened to go on an indefinite strike from February 9 in protest against the delay in merging the civic body with Dhanbad Municipal Corporation.

Mada officials, who took the decision after a meeting under the banner of Mada Sanyukta Karmachari Sangharsh Samiti, also criticised secretary of urban development department Nitin Madan Kulkarni for saying that no financial grant would be provided to Mada to bail it out of the present crisis. He had also said Madaís merger with the corporation might not happen at all.

ďThe secretary did not know the actual figures while making that statement. Mada has been provided Rs 200 crore for clearing its electricity bills. It also received Rs 77.55 lakh under the planning head,Ē said president of the samiti Rampravesh Sharma.